Cellulosic product



March 1, 1 w. H. BURGER, JR ET AL 2,926,667

CELLULOSIC PRODUCT Filed April 9, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 1, 1960 w.H. BURGER, JR,, ETAL 2,926,667

CELLULOSIC PRODUCT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 9, 1956 a n ie March 1,1960 w CELLULOSIC PRODUCT Filed April 9, 1956 3 Sheefbs$heet 3 .H,BURGER, JR., ET AL 2 326,667

United States Patent 2,926,667 cELLULosro PRODUCT William H. Burger,Jr., and Howard N. Nelson, Neenah,

and Carl H. Rowe, Appleton, Wis., assignors to Kim- This inventionrelates to improvements in a cellulosic product, and more particularlyto improvement in abr' sorbent pads such asv bandages, especiallycatamenial napkins and tampons. The invention is more specificallyconcerned with the details of construction and the method ofconstruction of a fluid absorber which adapted to be used inuncompressed form or compressed to se lected length and transverse shapeand size to form a compressed, expandable tampon.

The main objects of the invention are to provide a fluid absorbing bodymainly of fibrous material in which the fibrous components areeffectively retained in the body; to provide such a body which can bepracticably made by automatic mechanism at high speed and low cost; toprovide a compressible body as aforesaid which will retain its normalcondition and shape without significant change for a prolonged timeperiod while it is awaiting use in uncompressed form or while it isawaiting compression to forma compressed tampon; and to, provide amethod for producing the improved tampon body.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood byreference to the following specification and accompanying drawings (3sheets) wherein a selected embodiment of the invention is described andillustrated.

In the drawing: a

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 are perspective representations of successivestages of a manufacturing procedure according to the present invention,Figure 4 being also an illustration of an uncompressed pad body madeaccording to this invention;

Figure 5 is a perspective illustration of a finished tampon which may bemade from the uncompressed body illustrated in Figure 4;

Figures 6, 7 and 8 are perspective illustrations of snccessive steps ofa modification of the method shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive;.

Figures 9 and 10 are diagrammatic representationsof other concepts ofour invention; and,

Figure 11 is a schematic representation of apparatus for producing atampon according to this invention.

According to one example of the invention, an absorbent, compressibletampon body is constructed mainly of two elongated, absorbent pad bodiesor batts 1g and 1b of selectedfibrous material, and a wrapper 2.

The said batts 1a and 1b are here shown as of teetangular form in bothlongitudinal and transverse cross section. The batts may be of otherforms, especially in transverse cross section, for example circular,semi-circular, or of indefinite shapes such as occur in roving-likegatherings of the fiber material. The batts of fiber may be made of anysuitable fibrous material or mixtures of different kinds of fibrousmaterial. For one example, they are desirably made of a mixture ofcotton linters and crimped viscose rayon staple fibers in theproportions of about 60% cotton linters and 40% crimped viscose ay st plber (by igh A other suitable fi r blend comp a u 5 0f mical wood pulpfibers (o en k own a flu 1 of nylon fibers, and 40% of B-comber cottonfibers.

Other; fibers which will form an absorbent pad body may be used andnatural and synthetic fibers may be used either alone or in blends oftwo or more kinds. The fibers may be selected according to their lengthsor weights, various blends of fiber lengths or fiber weights or of both,and various kinds or types and grades of cotton and other fibers may beused. Wood pulp fiber is preferably used in the. cotton-fiber-like formknown as fluff, but it may be used in the form of crepe wadding ifdesired.

The said blend of cotton linters and viscose rayon is a verysatisfactory one in that the rayon fibers are resilient and serve toimpart to the pads a resiliency which is highly desirable in thefinished tampon represented in Figure 5. The cotton. linters provideexcellent absorbing ca,- pacity.

' In one example the pads 1a and 1b are 4 inches long, /s of an inchthick and 1% inches. wide. These propontions are not essential and theyare stated. merely by way of an example of a size from which a veryacceptable tampon may be made.

As shown in Fig. l, the fiber pads 1a and 1b are dis posed in side byside coplanar relation on the wrapper 2 p which is of highly perviousmaterial. Flat disposition of the wrapper material as shown forreceiving the pads in coplanar relation is presently preferred by thisis not essential. The gauze may be, for example, folded to V- shapedform or inverted V-shaped. form or some. other form which may facilitatethe folding steps which will hereinafter be described, the pads beingthen deposited respectively on angularly related portions of thewrapper.

The wrapper 2" may consist of conventional woven gauze, having athreadcount construction within a wide range, the limits of which are notimportant in respect to the present invention. Said wrapper may compriseknitted, or braided open mesh fabric, non-woven thread fabrics made bycross laying. the. warp. and filler threads, reinforced non-woven fibersheeting,or any other ma} terial which provides suitable strength andpervionsness. In woven thread materials, special weaves such as lenoweave may be employed in respect to some or all of the warp threads toinsure stability of. the thread position in the open mesh fabric. Ifmore than normal stability of thread position is required in open meshfabrics of the character indicated, it may be obtained by adhesivelybonding crossing thread portions to each other at their intersections. i

The pads 1a and 1b are preferably placed on the wrapper in spacedrelation to each other as illustrated in Figure 1. The space between thepads is not critical, 7

but is preferably within the range of about of an inch to. about A of aninch. when the pads are about of an inch thick. This spacing may bereduced or eliminated, especially with very thin or resilient pads,.ormade greater when thicker Pads are used. f The wrapper sheet 2 issomewhat longer than the length of the fiber pads as illustrated, andend portions 3 and 4 of the wrapper are folded upwardly over the ends ofthe pads and inwardly over the upper faces of the respectively adjacentmarginal end portions of the pads as shown' in Figure 2. The width ofthe wrapper sheet 2 is also greater than the combined width of thespaced fiber pads so that a side marginal portion 5 of the wrapperextends beyond one side of the assembled pads. The folded marginal endportions 3 and 4 of the wrapper sheet which extend beyond the pads maybe adjusted as indicated at 6 to cause the length of the wrapper betweenits folded ends to be substantially uniform from side to side forpurposes which will presently appear.

If desired, adhesive may be employed, preferably in limited areas asindicated at 7, to maintain said margins 3 and 4 folded, but this isusually not necessary. When the pads 1a and 1b are of the dimensionsabove mentioned and placed on the wrapper as set forth, the wrappersheet 2 may be about 6 inches long and about 4% inches wide, thesedimensions being only exemplary and not critical.

1 After the components have been brought to the condition represented inFigure 2, the pad body 1b together with the wrapper portions whichembrace said body, are folded upwardly and inwardly over the pad body 1aso as to place the fiber bodies 1a and 1b in face to face supenposedrelation with the marginal end portions 3 and 4 of the wrapper disposedbetween the end portions of said fiber bodies as represented in Figure3.

The next step is to fold the projecting side portion 5 of the wrapperwith its folded end portions upwardly over the adjacent side of theassemblage of superposed pad bodies 1a and 1b and over the top face ofsaid pad body 1b to thereby place the assemblage in the conditionrepresented in Figure 4. If desired, adhesive may be employed betweenthe marginal side portion 5 of the wrapper or jacket and the underlyingstructure to seal the jacket in closed condition. When adhesive is used,it is preferable that it be rather sparingly used, an arrangement ofadhesive spots such as represented at 8 being suitable. The adhesiveemployed should be chosen to avoid the production of any hard, stiffareas or spots and it should be non-toxic and otherwise free fromobjectionable action on the sensitive walls of the vaginal cavity.Instead of adhesive bonding, bonding may be effected by needling tointerlock the fibers of the pad bodies and the wrapper material. Also,adhesively coatedthreads or thermoplastic threads or fibers may bepositioned between the parts which it is desired to bond together. Ifthermoplastic material is employed, it may form a part of the wrapper orof the pad and any suitable means may be used for reactivating thematerial to effect the desired bonding.

It is preferred that the width of the wrapper 2 be so selected, and thatthe fiber pads 1a and 1b be so placed on the wrapper that the final fold5 of the wrapper will terminate approximately as shown at 9, i.e.,within the width of the underlying face of the pad body 1b in at leastslightly spaced relation to the corner of the tampon body toward whichsaid fold 5 extends. This will usually prevent the free raw edges ofsaid wrapper portion 5 from possibly forming a sharp or harsh edge onthe surface of the compressed tampon which may ultimately be made fromthe uncompressed body described. The exposed raw edges of the wrappermay be located on any face of the assemblage but it should lie flat onthe face and it should be spaced from the corners'or edges (if any) ofthe assemblage.

After the components are in the condition represented Figure 4, asuitable draw string 1-0 is attached if the assemblage is to become acatamenial or other internally applied or inserted plug, removal ofwhich is facilitated by the provision of such a withdrawal member. Thedraw string 10 may be a moisture resistant mercerized soft cotton orother thread which is folded upon itself and knotted together at itsfree ends as indicated at 11. The folded end 12 of the draw string ispassed through the tampon body so as to pass through the two padelements 1a and 1b, and the knotted end of the draw string is passedthrough the folded or looped end 12 of the string as shown in Figure 4so as to form a noose or larks-head knot around an end portion of thetampon .body. The noose may be drawn as taut as desired so as to holdthe folded body structure together. Because of the noose, the employmentof adhesive spots as above mentioned may be omitted or such adhesive maybe employed in an area or areas near only the opposite end ofthe tamponbody. This form of string attachment is not essential and otherforms-several being well knownmay be employed.

The withdrawal cord 10 is anchored not only to the fiber body but alsoin the wrapper which encloses the fiber body. Therefore, when the drawstring 10 is used to withdraw the absorbing body from a cavity, pull istransmitted to the wrapper which is made of material which will notreadily pull apart so that complete removal of the fiber body within thewrapper is a practical certainty. In the illustrated arrangement, thewithdrawal cord 10 passes through at least three plies of the wrappermaterial, two on the uppermost (in Figure 4) face of the assemblage, anda single 'ply on the opposite or lower face. In the illustratedconstruction, the cord also passes through plies of the wrappingmaterial provided by the inwardly folded wrapper margins, but this isnot considered important. The draw string noose portions of saidpadsserves to secure said pads in faceto-face relation to each other and tocause the noose enclosed portions of the inturned wrapper margins to bemore securely gripped between the pads.

The wrapper material should be of such mesh that it will effectivelyretain in the absorbent body, any short fiber component thereof. For abody of fibers made of cotton linters which often comprisesfibersranging in length from & to of an inch, a suitable wrapper isprovided by gauze or similar thread fabric havinga thread countconstruction of about 24 x 24. In some instances the wrapper materialmay be a more open thread-formed web having a lower thread countconstruction-say about 16 x l8-and a facing F (Fig. l) of cotton orother fibers frictionally or adhesively attached to a face of the threadweb. Such fiber facing, even when of a light weight, within the range ofabout 1 /2 to 6 grams per square yard, serves in cooperation with themore open mesh fabric to effectively contain short fibers in theabsorbent body.

If the assemblage to be used is for making a compressed catamenialtampon, the assemblage with a withdrawal cord attached thereto as,represented in Figure 4, is subjected to longitudinal and transversecompressions which will reduce the elongated, transversely rectangularbody to a selected length and a selected cross sectional shape and size.A typical size is about 1% inches long and of approximately circular orslightly oval cross section having a diameter in the neighborhood of /2inch. When the body is compressed in this manner, the folded end marginsof the wrapper become securely bonded or clamped within the fiber body,and the threads of the jacket or wrapper 2 become so embedded in thebody that their presence will be at least partially hidden, althoughclose examination will usually reveal them.

The tampon is usually compressed to have a rounded inner or front end 12and, in some instances, it may be provided with a socket 13 in its outerend for the reception of an end portion of an inserter stick as shown inMilcent US. Patent 2,607,346, August 19, 1952 By making the absorbentbody of two superposed pads of fibrous material as described, theprovision of the socket 13 during the compressing of the body isfacilitated since it is very' easy to insert a socket forming pinbetween the pad sections. That is especially truebecause the endportions of the pad sections are made easily separable by the presenceof the inturned wrapper end portions. Also, said inturned wrapper endportions constitute a reinforcing liner for at least a portion of thelength of the socket 13, and the inwardly extending length of said endportions at the socketed end of the tampon body may be made long enoughto line the entire or any desired portion of the depth of the socket.Such a lining for the wall vof the socket prevents withdrawal of fiberfrom the walls of said socket as an incident to the withdrawal of theinserter stick from the socket. Both of the folded end margins 3 and 4ofthe wrapper may be made longer if desired, to increase the security ofanchorageof said wrappermargins in the pad body, As shown in Figs. 4 and5, the draw string is preferably attached to the body nearer to one sidethereof thanto the other and clcsely adjacent to the free edge of thewrapper. This avoids interference by the string withthe centering of thesocket in the end of the tampon.

When the assemblage shown'in Fig. 4 is compressed undersuitableconditions to reduced size as shown in Fig. 5, the compressionis suflicient to cause the compressed body to become substantiallystable dimensionally. However, the body being wetted in normal use,moisture absorbed by the tampon releases the fiber locking effectincident to the compression so that the tampon may expand both crosswiseand lengthwise within the vaginal cavity. The wrapper 2 having beengathered and pressed into the fiber body, may readily be distended bythe expansion of said fiberbody so that the wrapper does not interferewith such expansion.

Of course, the constructional details and the method of constructing theabsorbing body are not dependent upon the use of any particular kind ofwrapper material, or of any particular kind of fibers in the padelements excepting that, for compressed products such as catamenialtampons, the pad material should be such that it may be compressed toand will, until wetted, remain substantially stable in finished tamponsize as represented in Figure 5.

A modification of the procedure represented in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusivefor producing an absorbing body completely enclosed in a wrapper andwith all edge portions of the wrapper enclosed within the pad body isrepresented in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. As there shown, a pair of elongatedabsorbing bodies 14a and 141) are initially placed in endwise spacedrelationship on a sheet 15 of selected wrapper material. This sheet isof such dimensions that side marginal portions 16 and '17 may be foldedupwardly across the side edges and inwardly over the upper marginal sideportions of the pad bodies 14a and 14b as shown in Fig. 7. In theparticular instance illustrated, end portions of said side'margins 16and 17 may be adjusted to overlap one another as indicated at 18 so thatthe width of the folded wrapper material beyond the outer ends of thepads remains approximately uniform and the same as the width of the padbodies. The projecting endportions 19 and 20 of the wrapper material arethen folded upwardly and inwardly over the respectively adjacent endsand end portions ofthe pad bodies' ll4a and 14b, the position in whichthe end portion 20 is shown in Fig. 7. In the next step, the pad body14b is folded upwardly and over the pad body 1441 into f ace-to-faceoverlapping relation thereto, thereby to provide an absorbing body asshown in Fig. 8 in which the fiber pads are completely enclosed inwrapping material and all raw edges of the wrapping material areenclosed within the fiber body.

It will be observed that the main dilference between the arrangementshown in Figs. 6 to 8 and that shown in Figs. 1 to 4 is that the padbodies are placed more or a less centrally on the wrapper sheet in Figs.6 to 8 so that all margins of the wrapper may be folded across the sideand end edges of the pad elements and inwardly over the upper facesthereof which are ultimately folded into contact with each other. Thewrapper may be made of a .size to give any desired width of margin toextend into the pad body from any side thereof, even to cause theopposite margins on each pad section to overlap each other to anydesired extent.

It will be apparent that the method represented in Figs. 6 to 8inclusive may be applied to the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inwhich the pads are aligned side by side transversely of their lengths.Similarly, the method represented in Figs. 1 to 4 may be applied to thearrangement shown in Figs: 6 to 8 in which the pads are longitudinallyaligned.

In Fig. 9 there is diagrammatically represented a procedure in which aknitted, braided or other tubular wrapper 21 is employed, the pad bodies22 and 23 being positioned side by side within the tube as representedin view A of said Fig. 9. -With such an arrangement end portions 24 and25 of the tube may be folded upwardly and inwardly over the respectivelyadjacent end portions of the enclosed pad elements 22 and 23 after whichsaid pad elements may be folded into face-to-face relationship asrepresented in diagram D of Fig. 9. In this arrangement, the raw freeends of the wrapping material tube are enclosed between the marginal endportions of the pad units 22 and 23 and between the material of the tubewhich is folded upon itself intermediate the pads as shown in Fig. 9,view D.

In some instances pad bodies such as the bodies 22 and 23 may beenclosed in end to end relationship (as in Fig. 7) Within an elongatedtube, end portions of the tube being folded over the respectivelyadjacent pad end portions after which the bodies 22 and 23 are folded toface-to-face relationship substantially like that shown in Fig. 8.

Still another method of producing a completely enclosed pad body isrepresented in Fig. 10. In view E of Fig. 10 pad bodies 26 and 27 areshown disposed in end to end relationship within an elongated knitted orother tubular wrapper 28, one of the pad bodies, the pad 26 in thisinstance, having its outer end substantially in registry with theadjacent end of the tube 28. At the other end, the tube 28 extendssubstantially beyond the adjacent end of the other pad body 27. Withthis arrangement the pad body 26 with its enclosing tubing may be foldedupwardly and inwardly over the pad body 27 and the extended wrapper tubeend portion then folded upwardly and inwardly over the pad body 26 asrepresented in view G of Fig. 10.

In all of the described modifications, the absorbent bodies are fullyenclosed in wrapping material and all raw edges of the wrapping materialare enclosed within the folded body structure, or at most, there is butone raw edge exposed on the outer surface of the body. In all of theseforms, draw strings may be attached to the absorbing body in anysuitable manner, for example, as shown in Figure 4.

In general, the folded body structures may be called book foldedstructures in that in each instance the absorbing pad elements arehingedly connected through the agency of the wrapping material at oneside of the absorbing body so that the structure folds to closedcondition as representd in Figures 4, 8, 9 (view D), and Figure 10 (viewG). This folded construction is advantageous mainly because of thefacility with which the desired edge portions of the wrapping materialmay be enclosed within the tampon body by very simpleand easily effectedfolding operations. These simple folding operations may be contrastedwith relatively difficult and slower tucking operations such as effectedwith the method and apparatus shown in Patent 2,688,163 to Burger etal., September 7, 1954.

Although the improved method may be employed in connection with the useof tubular wrapping material as represented in Figures 9 and 10, it ispresently considered to be substantially more advantageous when used inconnection withwrapping material sheets according to methods such asrepresented in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive and in Figures 6 to 8 inclusive.Woven or other sheet material is usually less costly than comparableknitted tubular material and sheet material may be very easily modifiedby fiber applications as above described and otherwise so that the useof wrapper sheets (as distinguished from tubes) provides the preferredconstruction.

Apparatus for producing the described uncompressed tampon body is notpart of the present invention, but in Figure 11 there is schematicallyillustrated a mechanical method for forming the uncompressed absorbingbody by the steps represented in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive. In Figure11,'a p ir o ip A nd B of fibe batting h in the cross sectional size andshape of the desired (fiber pads 1a and 1b are fed endwise, and endportions are successively cut ofi to form the required pad sections 1and 1b which are deposited on a web C of gauze or other selectedwrapping material. The wrapper web is propelled endwise in the directionindicated by the arrow 30 by a suitable conveyorrepresented at 31.Suitable side folding plow devices 32 and 33 are arranged to act on themarginal side portions of the gauze web C to fold the same oversuccessive pairs of the fiber pads, the said pairs being spaced apart adistance corresponding to the desired length of gauze margin 5. Suitablegauze severing means is provided to sever the gauze along a line such asrepresented at 34 to thereby produce a unit substantially as representedin Figure 2. In connection with the severing means, the folded gauzemargins 3 and 4 may be adjusted inwardly as represented at 6 althoughsuch adjustment may be omitted or made as a part of a succeeding operation.

Separated units consisting of pad pairs 1a and 1b and a wrapper 2 withmargins folded over the ends of the pad bodies, may then be moved in thedirection indicated by the arrow 35 to first subject the pad body 1b tothe action of a folding plow 36 which will fold the pad body 111upwardly and inwardly over the pad body In to produce the structurerepresented in Fig. 3. Thereafter, the extending wrapper portion issubjected to the action of a folding plow device 37 which will fold saidmarginal portion 5 upwardly and inwardly over the pad body 1b.

.At a suitable point, a withdrawal string applying device 38 is operatedto attach the draw string so as to provide the uncompressed bodyrepresented in Fig. 4. Adhesive printing mechanism may be located atsuitable places along the path of travel of the material which is formedinto the desired body by the described folding steps, to print adhesivein spots or otherwise on the tampon, for example, as represented at 7and 8 in Figs, 2, 3 and 4.

The wrapped tampon assemblage with a withdrawal cord attached may nextbe fed to compressing mechanism. Compressing mechanism is hererepresented by reciprocable side compression dies 39 and 40, and endcompression plungers 41 and 42. The end compression plungers areoperative between the side compression dies after the side compressingoperation is effected and while said side compression dies remain inclosed position to support the tampon against sidewise expansion duringthe endwise compressing operation.

It should, of course, be understood :that the schematically representedmechanisms are intended only to typify one general arrangement ofmechanism for the purpose of this invention. Other mechanisms may beused.

Although we presently prefer the described sequence of first folding endportions of the wrapper material over the opposite ends of the pads,then folding the pads into superposed relationship, and finally foldingthe projecting side margin of the wrapper around the superposed pads (asshown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive), any other folding sequence (several ofwhich are described) may be employed whereby a similar end result willbe obtained. The described arrangements whereby the edges of a wrappermember are enclosed within a padbody are useful, not only in connectionwith the production of cornpressed catamenial tampons as described, butalso in con nection with the production of other fluid absorbers,whether compressed or uncompressed, and including, among others, varioustypes of bandages and catamenial napkins.

In the appended claims, reference to side by side positioning of thepads on a wrapper sheet or in a wrapper tube is without reference to thelength or width of the pads unless the contrary is specificallyindicated by other words in the claims.

Various changes in the described absorbing body structure and the methodof making it may be made while retaining the principles of theinvention.

We claim:

1. A fluid absorber comprising an absorbent body having a plurality ofindividual absorbent pads disposed in face-to-face relationship, and agenerally rectangular wrapper sheet of pervious material having portionswhich overlie outside surfaces of said-body including a portion whichextends continuously across an edge of the body to hingedly connect saidpads on said edge, and said wrapper sheet having a pair of opposite edgeportions which extend into said body between said pads on the edge ofthe body opposite to said hinge edge.

2. A fluid absorber comprising an absorbent body having a plurality ofabsorbent pads disposed in face-to-face relationship, and a generallyrectangular wrapper sheet of pervious material having portions whichoverlie outside surfaces of said body including a portion which extendscontinuously across an edge of the body to hingedly connect said pads onsaid edge, and said wrapper sheet having marginal edge portions whichextend from the outer faces of said body into said body between saidpads on all of the other edges of said body.

3. A fluid absorber comprising a pair of absorbent pads assembled inface-to-face relationship, and a wrapper sheet of pervious materialextending completely around said assemblage in one direction and havingoverlapped marginal portions, said wrapper also having on at least oneedge of the assemblage, other marginal portions which extend toward eachother from opposite outside portions of the assemblage and respectivelyover adjacent pad edges and into said assemblage between poitions ofsaid pads, and a cord having a loop portion extending through thewrapped pads in position through said overlapped marginal portions andsaid other marginal portions of the wrapper which extend between thepads.

4. -A fluid absorber having a pair of absorbent pads disposed inface-to-face relationship to form an absorbent body, and a generallyrectangular wrapper sheet of pervious material extending completelyaround said body in one direction and having overlapped marginalportions, means securing said marginal portions inoverlappedrelationship, said wrapper also having other marginal portionswhich extend toward each other from opposite outside surface portions ofthe body and respectively ovgr adjacent pad edges and into said bodybetween said pa s.

5. A fluid absorber having a pair of absorbent pads disposed inface-to-face relationship to form an absorbent body, and a generallyrectangular wrapper of pervious sheet material extending completelyaround said body in one direction and having overlapped marginalportions, and having other marginal portions extending toward each otherfrom opposite outside surface portions of the body and respectively overadjacent pad edges and into said body between said pads, and a cordattached to and extending away from said body, said cord having a loopportion which extends around an end portion of said body, a portion ofsaid loop passing through said body and said overlapped wrapper marginsadjacent an end of said body.

6. A tampon comprising an elongated absorbent body having a pair ofelongated absorbent pads disposed in face-to-face relationship, and awrapper of pervious sheet material extending transversely around thelength of said body and having overlapping marginal edge portions, saidwrapper having other marginal edge portions which extend toward eachother from opposite outside surface portions of the body andrespectively over adjacent pad ends and into said body between endportions of said pads, and a cord attached to and extending away fromsaid body, said cord having a loop portion which extends around an endportion of said body, a portion of said loop passing through said bodyand said overlapped wrapper margins adjacent said end of said body andnearer to one side thereof than to the opposite side so as to facilitatethe formation of an'axially extending socket approximately centrally inthe end portion of said body to which said cord is attached.

7. A tampon comprising an absorbent body having a pair of elongatedabsorbent pads disposed in face-to-face relationship, and a wrapper ofpervious sheet material extending transversely around the length of saidbody and having overlapping marginal edge portions on the outside ofsaid body, said wrapper having other marginal edge portions which extendtoward each other from opposite outside surfaces of the body andrespectively over adjacent pad ends and into said body between endportions of said pads, means bonding said marginal edge portions of saidwrapper to the inner surfaces of said pads, and a cord attached to andextending away from said body, said cord having a loop portion whichextends around an end portion of said body, a portion of said looppassing through said body and said other marginal edge portions of saidwrapper adjacent said end of said body and through the outer overlappingwrapper margin adjacent the free edge thereof.

8. A fluid absorber comprising a pair of elongated absorbent padsassembled in face-to-face relationship, and a generally rectangularwrapper of pervious sheet material enclosing said assembled pads andhaving overlapping marginal portions on the outside of the absorber,said wrapper having another portion which extends continuously acrossone of the longitudinal edges of said assemblage, and having marginaledge portions of said wrapper which extend across the ends of said padsfrom opposite outside faces thereof and inwardly between said pads atboth of the opposite ends of said pads.

9. A fluid absorber comprising an absorbent body having a plurality ofelongated absorbent pads disposed in face-tmface relationship, and. agenerally rectangular wrapper sheet of pervious material having portionswhich overlie outside surfaces of said body, including a portion whichextends continuously across a longitudinal edge of the body to hingedlyconnect said pads on said edge, said wrapper sheet having a pair ofopposite marginal edge portions which extend into said body between saidpads in covering relation to the transverse edges thereof, and a cordhaving a loop portion extending through one end portion of said body andthrough said marginal edge portions of said wrapper.

10. A fluid absorber comprising an absorbent body having a plurality ofelongated absorbent pads disposed in face-to-face relationship, and agenerally rectangular wrapper sheet of pervious material having portionswhich overlie outside surfaces of said body, including a portion whichextends continuously across a longitudinal edge of the body to hingedlyconnect said pads on said edge, said wrapper sheet having a pair ofopposite marginal edge portions which extend into said body between saidpads in covered relation to the transverse edges thereof, means bondingsaid marginal edge portions of said wrapper to the inner surface of apair of said pads, and a cord having a loop portion extending throughone end portion of said body and through said marginal edge por tions ofsaid wrapper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,724,111 Richter Aug. 13, 1929 1,926,500 Sackner Sept. 12, 19332,412,861 Beadle et a1 Dec. 17, 1946 2,462,178 Ganz Feb. 22, 19492,553,000 Parish May 15, 1951 2,688,163 Burger et 'al. Sept. 7, 19542,761,449 Bletzinger Sept. 4, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 520,209 Great BritainApr. 17,1940 568,042 Great Britain Mar. 15, 1945 710,670 Great BritainJune 16, 1954

